Tagging along with the Twins
by phantomduck
Summary: Studying late one night Harry and Ron catch Fred and George leaving the common room to go on a midnight adventure, rather then be annoyed at their little brother tagging along the twins actually warm to the idea of their younger sibling joining them. comp
1. Late night in the common room

Genre: Action Adventure / Humour.

Summary: This is a story about Harry and Ron joining Fred and George in a little midnight excusion around Hogwarts. It's set towards the end of the first term after the events with the Philosopher'sStone.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own any of the rights to any part of the Harry Potter world or Coca-Cola (This doesn't have anything to do with the story but I thought I'd just distance myself from them anyway)

Acknowledgement:Just want to say hi to Rach for helping me out with this.

* * *

Chapter 1.

'Look, I only need your notes on the War of the Giants between 1256 and 1263'

' Honestly Ron if you had been taking proper notes rather then talking to Harry about Quidditch all lesson then you wouldn't need my notes would you?' Said Hermione sternly.

'We weren't talking about Quidditch, we were … err… discussing the lesson in depth' Ron spluttered tilting his head so he could read from Hermione's parchment.

'Oh really?' Hermione said sceptically.

'Yes really.' Ron replied indignity whilst completely failing to stop his cheeks from starting to turn red.

'So no doubt you'll know who eventually reunited the factions and brought an end to the War?'

'Of course I know that, I mean why wouldn't I know that, it was a very important giant after all' Ron stammered, his eyes darting across Hermione's parchment looking for a possible answer.

Hermione closed the rather hefty book that she had been studying from and dropped it over her parchment so Ron could no longer read from it.  
'Well?'

'Err… it was Grunty the…erm Large.' Said Ron trying to ignore Harry who had buried his face deep into a book as he attempted not to laugh. 'Ok so we weren't paying attention, I doubt anyone does during Professor Binn's lessons. In fact I think both Harry and I should be rewarded for managing to stay awake.'

'You only managed that because I kept nudging you whenever you started snoring.'

Ron sat there with his mouth open, unsure how to respond, in the end deciding to pick up his book and bury his face in it like Harry whilst he mumbled angrily to himself, '… I don't snore.'

The evening slowly passed in the Gryffindor common room as the three of them studied, or at the very least Hermione studied whilst the Ron and Harry copied from her notes, the boredom of work was momentarily lifted when Seamus Finnegan accidentally set fire to himself as he practiced trying to levitate an apple. Soon, as it got late, the three of them were the only people to remain in the common room.

'That's it I can't do anymore' Harry yawned rolling up his parchment 'I need something to do, something fun.'

'We could always explore the school' Ron said also yawning having been triggered by Harry's.

'Haven't you two had enough of adventures? I mean you've only just got out the hospital wing Harry' Said Hermione shaking her head.

'True Hermione, but that was because of Quirrel and with him gone it'll be much safer'

'Well if you are so adamant on going it will have to be without me as I am going to bed. If I was you I wouldn't stay up too late, you might end up snoring again in class' Packing up her books she gave Ron and Harry one last look imploring them to reconsider before stomping up the stairs to her room muttering 'Boys!'

As Harry and Ron put their heads together to work out where about in the school they should explore they heard footsteps coming from the boys' side of the dormitories. It turned out to be Fred and George who, rather then being in their pyjamas ready for bed, were fully clothed and carrying a backpack each. They were so engrossed in their conversation over a piece of parchment that they didn't even notice Harry and Ron sitting by the fire.

'See Fred, Filch is over the far side of the school with Mrs Norris' George whispered pointing to a spot on the parchment.

'Yep and Peeves is there as well so no doubt he will be kept busy for the foreseeable future' Said Fred grinning.

'Ok so we just head down the stair cases to the ground floor…' George started, trailing his finger along the paper.

'… take the west passage until we get to the painting of the unicorn…' Fred followed.

'… and then behind that is the passage down to the dungeon' They finished together.

'What's down in the dungeon?' Ron asked.

The twins were shocked into silence but both quickly recovered, George step forward as Fred took the parchment and turned his back on them. Harry could just about hear him say '..chief managed' before Fred had turned back. Harry could now see that the parchment was bare and that whatever was written on in it before had gone.

'Nothing of interest' George said casually trying to appear innocent which was never an easy thing for either of the twins to manage.

'Really George, if there is nothing of interest then why are you sneaking off down there during the middle of the night?' beamed Ron amused with having finally caught his older brothers out.

'So what if we are up to anything, what are you going to do about it' Fred asked standing shoulder to shoulder.

'Well we could always come with you.' Ron mumbled sheepishly towards the floor casting a sideways look at Harry.

Rather then being annoyed at this suggestion Harry was amazed to see this comment from Ron made the twins start grinning.

'So little Ron has decided to grow up and join the big boys' George said laughing.

'I've got to admit we were worried you might turn out like Percy, especially after you became friends with Hermione. I swear if you put him in a dress and slap a wig on him you wouldn't be able to tell the two apart.' Fred said joining in.

'Ahh but then there was that adventure you three had down with Quirrel, I still cant believe you beat McGonagall's Chess Board. I can honestly say I have never been so proud.' George wiped an imaginary tear away as he said this.

'Yep I would have been disappointed if you didn't end up in the hospital wing at least once in your first year. How many times were we in there during our first year George, Six or seven?'

'At least seven probably more, I mean we were in there twice in our first month at Hogwarts. Well if you are coming…'

'… you'd better hurry up' They finished in unison as they crossed over to the portrait of the Fat Lady where it swung open for them.

'What do you think Ron?' Harry asked expectantly.

'Might as well finish our first year with some fun' Ron said jumping out of his seat making his way over to the portal.

'What about our work? Should we just leave it out like this?' Harry asked pointing back to their schoolwork.

'It'll be fine there, besides with any luck Hermione might sleepwalk in the night and end up finishing it for us.' Ron's voice echoed back from the hall.

Harry gave one last look back into the Gryffindor common room before disappearing through the portal after Ron and his brothers.


	2. The Unicorn Portrait

**Chapter 2**

Harry and Ron quickly caught up with the twins and they quickly descended the stairs together. What surprised Harry most was how quiet Fred and George were, he was so use to them being at the centre of any noise or disruption, but at the moment they were silently flitting down the stairs stopping occasionally to listen out for anyone. Every time either Ron or Harry went to speak they were shushed back into silence by one of the twins.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs Fred motioned to Harry and Ron to keep quiet by putting his finger to his lips and pointed along a corridor, which Harry assumed correctly, must be the west passage the twins had been talking about earlier. It was almost eerie being out in the school at night; normally the corridors would be full of students, teachers and ghosts going about their business. At the moment the only sound to pierce the silence that surrounded Harry was the faint snoring emanating from the portraits on the walls, at least it was until Ron sneezed.

'For God sake Ron, try to make a bit more noise why don't you' Fred whispered harshly, as the sound of the sneeze echoed all around them.

'Sorry couldn't help it.'

'Come on we'd better get moving in case someone heard' Harry said keeping his voice low.

They left the brightly lit area of the stairs and became plunged into darkness as they entered the west passage. In turn each of them took out their wands and said 'Lumos' turning the ends of their wands into bright beacons that allowed them to see where they were going. Fred and George were leading the group, wands held high, with Harry and Ron following close behind. They were soon standing in front of a huge portrait with torches either side, where asleep in the centre was a single brilliant white unicorn, extinguishing their lights they put their wands away and examined the painting.

'Here give me a hand' George grunted as he pulled hard on one side of the painting. The four of them heaved together and very slowly the side started coming away from the wall. It wasn't long before the painting had been swung wipe open and before them was a huge wooden door.

'It's locked' said Harry giving the handle a turn.

'No problem there Harry, there isn't a door we're come across that we couldn't get passed' Fred said jovially slapping Harry on the back.

'Apart from that one in the Ministry of Magic'

'True, but to be fair to us I think the main reason we couldn't get passed it wasn't because it was locked but because of that bloody big beast guarding it which had bigger teeth then Hermione'

'When did you go to the Ministry of Magic?' Ron asked at this clearly new snippet of information.

'Last summer, they had one of those "Bring Your Children To Work " days.' George said waving his hand in a dismissive way.

'How come dad didn't take me? I'd have loved to have gone.' Ron asked, quite obviously put out by the whole thing.

'Mum said you were too young, the same with Ginny and what with Bill and Charlie already working that only left us and Percy.'

'And he kept dad busy by insisting on being introduced to anyone and everyone in the Ministry, which of course…' Fred smiled as he reminisced.

'…meant Fred and I got "lost" and got to look around the place on our own' George finished letting out a quiet chuckle.  
'Anyway…' He continued.

'…back to the matter of the lock…' Fred's hand dived into his pocket withdrawing his wand.

'…pay close attention boys you are about to learn a very important lesson…' George stood back to give his twin more room.

'…yes, lesson one of Fred and George's guide to mischief: How to magically unlock a door' Fred stood to attention and gave his wand an exaggerated flourish.

'Er… actually I've already unlocked it' Said Harry holding up his wand.

'Oh.' Said Fred taken aback 'So you already know the Alohamora spell?' His shoulders sagged slightly as the news somewhat deflated his grand performance.

'Yeah, Hermione showed us it in the first term.' Ron smirked. 'And she managed it without any of that posing too.'

Harry laughed as his turned the handle of the door and pushed it open into the darkness beyond. 'Lumos' he whispered, his wand igniting brightly before him as he stepped through into the awaiting room.

Harry looked around the room and was quite unimpressed. Four walls which were very close together, barely giving the foursome enough room to get in and close the door and no visible exits except for the one they had already come through, aside from that there was nothing else in the room… wait. He lowered his wand and the light shone across the floor.

'There's writing here' He said looking up at Fred.

'Yeah, I can see it too' Both Fred and George removed their backpacks and threw them into the corner. All of them bent down so as to get a better look at the writing and they each began to read.

To go further  
On this day,  
Three words in order  
You must say

You sound surprised?  
It's used to write a letter,  
That should help you  
Understand it better.

The second word  
Won't cause relief,  
It's often used,  
To catch a thief.

Made of wood,  
It's strong and steady,  
Used it once,  
You have already.

Say them loud  
And say them nicely,  
Not once or twice,  
But say them thricely.

'Hmm… all of a sudden I wish you were more like Percy' George said casting a sideward glance at Ron.

'True or Hermione, this is definitely something they would probably enjoy doing.' Ron replied scratching his head.

'I think the third word is door' Harry ventured looking at the other three seeking confirmation.

'Brilliant Harry, they are made of wood and we had to use one to get into this room. Any ideas on the other two?' Fred asked expectantly.

'Hmmm… let me think. What could be used to catch a thief?'

'You could use a net.'

'A net? It's a wonder you didn't end up in Hufflepuff Ron.'

'Shut your trap George, I was only thinking aloud'

'That's it!' Harry said excitedly 'The second word is trap'

'Well done Ron.' Fred laughed ruffling his little brother's hair. 'So that gives us trap and door. Almost there.'

'I think the first word could be pen or quill, you'd use one of those to write a letter.' Ron guessed seeing if he could keep his good luck going.

'But "pen trap door" doesn't make much scene' Said Harry shaking his head.

'Oh yeah.' Ron nodded his head in agreement, his brow fixed into a frown as he concentrated or at the very least looked like he was concentrating, suddenly a look of understanding crossed his face and he broke into a smile 'Oh…OH…that's it, it's Oh.'

'Er… did he hit his head when he come through the door?' Fred whispered to George as they both looked at Ron who was now beaming at the three of them.

'How would we be able to tell the difference if he had?' George replied.

'Don't you get it' Ron said excitingly staring back at the blank faces. 'The part about sounding surprised. Oh? If you put that with the next bit you get: Oh pen, get it? O…pen, open.'

'Ron you're a bloody genius' Harry said as Ron was enveloped by his twins who were now dancing up and down whilst squeezing the life out of him. As they started chanting 'Ron's a bloody genius' he managed to wrestle free from their grasp.

'You know I think Hermione might have rubbed off on you.' Harry said smiling.

'Next thing you know I'll start taking notes in class' Ron said laughing at Fred and George who were now chanting 'Hermione's rubbed off on Ron.'

'Well that's all three words; Open Trap Door.' Harry said as George leaped into a rather complicated dance move, which would look rather dangerous in the wrong hands.

'Open trap door.' Ron repeated. 'Do you think we should move away from the middle?' He looked nervously at the floor.

'Open trap door.' The twins chanted waving their arms in the air.

CLICK… There was enough time for the foursome to give each other a panicked look before the centre of the room gave way and they dropped into the darkness below.


	3. Four doors but no way out

**Chapter 3**

Harry laid still in the darkness, the wind knocked out of him, luckily he had managed to land on something soft unfortunately it turned out to be Ron.

'Ughh… is everyone ok?' Came the groan of one of the twins to his left.

'I'm not sure, but should my leg be sticking out this weird angle?'

'Er… that's my leg George so can you please stop trying to twist it around.'

'Sorry Fred, Harry, Ron are you two alright?'

'I've felt worse before' Said Ron remembering a certain giant game of wizards chess that he had played recently.

'Me too' Harry got to his feet and then helped Ron up. 'Has anyone got a wand I dropped mine when we fell?'

'No problem, Lumos.'

The light momentarily blinded him, but as his eyes adjusted themselves he looked around for his wand and saw it lying near his feet. Picking it up he too lit the end of it and scanned his eyes around their new location.

They were in a large circular room with four exits evenly spaced out; above each of the doors was a symbol of an animal; a lion, a serpent, a badger and an eagle. In the centre of the room drawn on the floor was a very large version of the school badge painted in vibrant colours. Looking up Harry could see that whatever they had fallen through had closed over; the only way out was through one of the four doors.

'Where are we?' Ron asked dusting off his trousers.

'Not quite sure, we never really found out what it was called we assumed it was a way down into the dungeons but this doesn't really seem to have a dungeony feel, does it George.'

'Definitely not, although the way in could have been a lot nicer.'

'So if you don't know where we are, how did you know about the secret entrance behind the painting of the unicorn?' Harry asked.

'Ah Harry, such a story of discovery is filled with peril and danger…' George said grasping Harry's shoulder.  
'… and not to mention the odd damsel in distress.'

'Quite Fred, I mean where on Earth would we start such a story.'

'Somewhere near the end.' Ron said still nursing the aches and pains he'd received from being sandwiched between Harry and the floor.

'Oh, well we had a map'

'That's great' Said Harry smiling 'so you know how to get out of here?'

'The way out is definitely on the map' Fred said cautiously, choosing his words carefully.

'Er… you did bring the map with you?' Harry asked sensing something was wrong.

'Of course we brought it with us.' Fred said clearly insulted 'It's just…'

'…we'd put it in one of our backpacks along with all the supplies we might need.' George finished.

'So where is the backpack now?' Asked Ron warily.

In response to this both the twins looked up at the ceiling, Harry and Ron instantly knew what they meant; the map that could show them the way out was stuck up in the room behind the painting.

'Which one of them shall we hit first?' Ron asked Harry.

'Do you even remember where the way out is?' Harry said changing his view from the ceiling down to the twins.

'Oh yes…' Fred chimed reassuringly.

'… it's at the most Northern point of these series of rooms…' George continued.

'… lets you out just next to the suit of armour under the clock tower.' Fred finished.

'Any idea how many rooms we'll have to get through?'

'Absolutely not, although I can imagine it's quite a few. Don't worry Harry…' Fred said standing tall.

'…you forget who you have at your side…' George joined in, matching his brother's heroic pose.

'… the magnificent Weasley brothers.' The sounded echoed around the room as the twins waited for Harry and Ron to be comforted by this fact.

'We're so dead' Ron concluded. 'I mean it's great that we know we need to go north but unless any of you has a compass to hand it's not going to do us much good, even with the help of "the magnificent Weasley brothers"'. Nodding towards his siblings.

'God Ron you are going to have to learn to trust us. Fred if you will.'

'My pleasure George.' Fred gave his brother an exaggerated bow before holding up his wand. He placed it in the dead centre of his hand and said 'Point me'

Immediately his wand span in his hand and quite clearly pointed to the door to his left.

'It's called the Four-Point spell; it makes your wand point directly north very useful when lost. Not that we are lost mind you.' Fred said recovering well.

'Of course we're not lost. We're still in the school, we just don't know whereabouts. Follow me.' George piped as he headed through the chosen door, followed by eagerly by Fred and a bit more reluctantly by Ron.

Harry looked up at the door before he went through and saw that the one they had chosen had the symbol of a serpent; the sign of Slytherin.

'Figures.' Sighed Harry following the other three through the door.

As they entered the next room and closed the door behind them torches on the wall flared into life as if they had been waiting for some company. The light showed them that they were standing in the middle of a long corridor with a door at each end to their left and right, in front of them on the wall was a small plaque on which was written:

If you want to leave here quick,  
Then the left door you must pick,  
Know that quick does not mean best,  
With this route you'll face harsh tests,

If you want to leave with ease,  
Then choose the right if you please,  
Though this route has far less frights,  
Be prepared to spend the night.

'Well I guess that's pretty straight forward, we either take it slow and steady or…' George said grinning.

'… we take the fun route.' Fred matched his brother's grin with a gleam in his eye.

'Er… I dunno' said Ron looking worried 'what about those "harsh tests" it mentions?'

'Put it this way Ron, do you want the teachers to find out that rather then being tucked up in bed we were wandering through the school at night?' Fred queried

'Cos if we take the right door its says that it'll take all night' George joined in.

'I think they are right Ron, however unnatural that sounds' said Harry.

'Thanks for the vote of confidence there Harry, George and I are ever so grateful'

'Fine but if at any point these "harsh tests" involve anything to do with spiders I am turning right around and going through the other door'

George led the way followed closely by Fred, Ron and Harry, as before when they closed the door to the next room the torches sparked into life illuminating the room for them. This room was everything that had been promised. It about the size of the Transfiguration classroom, quite wide and long, but unlike the classroom there were no desk, blackboard, charts or windows. Instead there were several very large and very sharp looking metal blades swinging quickly across the room.

'Er… ok Ron' George said backing up 'maybe your idea of slow and safe would probably be the best'

'Yeah I think I might add dangerous swinging blades to the list of things I am afraid of'

'Come on Harry lets go through, what's holding you up?' Fred asked.

'It's the door, it won't open.'


	4. Close Shave

Chapter 4

'What do you mean it's locked?' Ron asked hurriedly.

'Well what do you think I mean when I say it's locked?' Harry responded.

'Look stand back guys,' Fred ushered them aside as he pointed his wand at the door, 'Alohomora.'

'No good, it won't open' said Harry trying to open the door once again. 'Any ideas what we should do?'

'I can only really think of one'

The others followed George's gaze and looked back up the room, through the swinging blades to the door on the other side.

'Er… any other ideas?' Ron said, his voice sounding a lot higher then usual. 'And don't say that's our only choice.'

'Ok we won't say it.' Fred said, his eyes fixed firm on the door opposite.

'Even if it is true.' George concluded.

'I've got it!' Fred exclaimed his face breaking into a relieved smile.

'Well we should probably get you to Madam Pomfrey as soon as we can, she'll have some kind of ointment that will sort it out for you.'

'You joke now George but once I solve this… trivial matter,' Fred waved his hand dismissively at the room full of blades,  
'you'll be praising me until the end of time itself. Now give me some room and prepare to call me Sir Fred.'

The other three moved back, andwhile Harry knew that both Fred and George were very experienced in not only getting themselves into trouble but also getting back out of it again, he still couldn't help feeling a little anxious as he watch Fred get ready for whatever impressive display of magic he was about to perform.

'Immobilis!'

A shimmer of magic shot out of the end of Fred's wand and stuck the first swinging blade. As he put his wand away he turned back to the other three with a broad smug grin on his face.

'Er… Sir Fred?'

'Yes little brother.' Fred put his hands on his hips and struck what he no doubt thought was a heroic pose.

'It didn't actually stop the blade.' Ron said pointing behind his brother.

'In fact I think you made it swing faster' Harry added watching the blade.

Fred dropped his heroic pose and turned back around. He looked again at the first swinging blade and saw that rather then the desired effect of the spell it had in fact done the opposite, and was now swinging back and forth at a much faster speed.

'Ahem… well as mum would say there's more then one way to blow up a cauldron.' Said Fred putting his hand back into his pocket and once again pulling his wand out.'

'That's true, so far I think we've managed just over fifty.' George whispered to Harry.

'Petrificus Totalis.' This time Fred continued to watch the blade to see what happened before his started bragging. Harry remembered Hermione using the same spell on Neville in the Gryffindor common room, that time Neville became encased in a thin layer of ice as he was quite literally frozen in place, unfortunately the result of the spell on the swinging blade wasn't quite the same.

'You really like a challenge don't you Sir Fred' George said as the four of them looked at the blade that had now burst into flames.

'Hang on, I think I know another spell that might work.'

'It's probably not a good idea to try anymore. It looks like they are supposed to react badly to magic.' Harry said.

'Well what else can we do?' Asked Fred.

'There is a space behind each blade, if we can time it right we can take it in turns to run past one of them and stop in the gap. As long as we are careful I reckon we can make it.' Harry looked at Fred seeing if he thought this idea was good as well.

'I've got to admit Harry, you certainly have guts.' Said Fred slapping Harry on the back.

'Yep, and if we time it wrong we'll be able to see them. So who should go first?' George said looking around at his brothers and Harry. 'Ron, are you ok? You look a bit pale.'

'Ok? OK! How the hell am I suppose to be ok? Can none of you see the swinging blades of death, one of which is now on fire thanks to Fred!' Ron shouted.

'I think Ron should go first, anyone else with me? Raise your hands.'

'Look Ron… Fred put your hand down.' Harry turn to Ron 'There isn't another way, we can't go back, we can't wait for someone to come and find us because no one knows where we are, and we can't use magic to get past them. If you can think of anyway around it then let us know because I would rather do anything then try and get past those blades.'

'Fine.' Sighed Ron 'From tomorrow I'm gonna start to act more like Percy.'

'Oh God Ron things aren't that bad are they? I mean sure we are all about to run through a series of very sharp blades one of which is on fire, thanks for that Fred by the way, but there is no need to go say something you'll regret tomorrow' George joked trying to lighten the mood. 'So who's first?'

'I'll do it.'

'You sure Fred?'

'Yes Harry, I set the damn thing on fire, which you have all been good enough not to point out,' Fred said sarcastically 'so I think I should be the one to lead the way. To be honest swinging fiery blades are nothing compared to trying to steal a freshly baked scone from the oven when mum's not looking, now that takes timing, reflexes and nerves of steel. This should be a walk in the park in comparison.'

Despite his exterior of calm bravado Harry could tell that Fred was apprehensive about what he was going to do. Fred walked over to the far left of the room, placed one hand on the wall to steady himself and slowly began to inch forward. Soon he had to use his other hand to shield his face from the flames on the first blade. Fred studied the movement of the blade to get the timing just right. He waited for it to swing in front of him, and as it swung back he sprinted forward only just remembering to stop himself before he got to the second blade. Again and again Fred did this until he had got past all the blades and was safely on the other side.

'What did I say? Walk in the park!' Fred shouted back to them whilst doing a victory dance.

'Guess I'm next.' George stepped forward and took up the same starting position as Fred did on the left. It wasn't long before he too had made it across the room and had joined Fred in his prancing.

Harry was next. As he got closer to the blade he could feel the heat emanating from it and like Fred used his hand to shield his face. He could feel his heart pounding faster and faster as he studied the blade. It's just like dodging a bludger he thought to himself. He took a deep breath, waited for the right moment and dived forward.

As he stopped in the gap between the blades he let out a huge sigh as a feeling of relief flooded his body, the hardest part was over and compared to the speed of the first blade the remaining ones were a lot easier. Harry was soon over the other side with the twins who were now shouting encouragement back to Ron.

'Come on, you can do it!' Fred shouted to a very pale looking Ron.

'I bloody can't, why don't you guys go on and send some help when you get out?' Ron shouted back in a rather shaky voice.

'Hey we aren't going to leave our favourite brother behind. We're all in this together!'

Harry could see this statement had an effect on Ron, who was now moving over to the side and was studying the blade like the others had done. As Ron's face screwed itself up in deep concentration, Harry could feel his own heart once again pounding hard, he was actually more nervous for Ron then he was when he had done it.

Harry watched as Ron rocked himself back and forth with the swing of the blade, he could see him take the same deep breath he had done and suddenly Ron had dived forward, only just narrowly missing getting sliced in half by the next blade. The twins let out a huge cheer and Harry could see Ron break into a smile as he looked over at them.

As with the other three Ron took the remaining blades in his stride, and soon there were all over the other side slapping Ron on the back.

'Well done Ron, you had me worried there for a moment but I knew you could do it.' Fred said ruffling his little brother's hair.

'Thanks Fred,' Ron said grinning 'so I'm really your favourite brother?'

'Of course, after Charlie, Bill and George.'

'But that only leaves Percy.'

'Don't forget Ginny.' George said smiling at Ron's obvious annoyance, as he turned the handle of the door and moved into the next room. 'Hey this one doesn't look so bad.'


	5. Greener on the other side

Chapter 5

The four boys shuffled into the room and gratefully shut the door behind them. The new room they had entered was similar, in size, to the last. Again in this room there were no windows and the only other exit was a door on the far side of the room. Lying across the middle third of the room, stretching the entire width was what looked like grass. It was a though someone had decided put a lawn right in the middle of the room.

'OK, at least there is nothing here that can cut you in half.' Harry said as equally confused as the rest of the group to the presence of the grass.

'Yeah I mean this doesn't look dangerous does it?' Ron said hopefully, looking around the room.

'Well I suppose we could always get Sir Fred here to set fire to it if you want a bit more danger.' George chuckled nudging his brother with his elbow.

'How was I suppose to know that was going to happen? It's not as if I deliberately set fire to those blades, I would have used an entirely different spell for that.'

Harry, who already knew from various stories told by Ron that Fred was extremely adept at setting fire to things both on purpose and accidentally, had noticed a sign on the wall next to the lawn which simply said: Please Keep Off The Grass. He directed the others attention to it.

'What do they expect us to do? Jump over it?' Ron laughed. 'It's only grass for God sake it's not as if we'll be stepping a bunch of rare plants'.

'Maybe the sign isn't there to tell us not to damage the grass but more as a warning.' Said Harry.

'Well how dangerous could grass be?' Ron said suddenly sounding a bit nervous.

'You obviously haven't had any Herbology lessons in Greenhouse three yet.' Fred said smiling.

'Yep there are many highly dangerous forms of grass, like the African Sleeping Grass…' George agreed.

'…the Spanish Quick Lawn…' Fred joined in.

'…and don't forget the North Australian Bouncing Meadow.' George and Fred looked at the open mouthed expressions on Harry and Ron's faces and broke into a fit of laughing.

'Very funny.' Ron said sarcastically.

'It's grass Ron, just grass. They probably put this room in so you could catch a breath after making it through that last one.' Fred said pointing to the door they had just come through.

'It's just that I don't think they would have put up that sign if they didn't mean it.'

'Honestly Ron, do you always believe what you read? Look,' George strode forward and took a couple of steps onto the grass before turning around with his arms outstretched, 'absolutely nothing to worry about. As Fred said before its only…' George's voice trailed off and he looked towards the grass beneath him.

'What's wrong George?' Fred asked warily.

'I thought I felt something there for a moment, as if there was something underneath me.'

'Maybe you should get off the grass.' Ron said hastily.

'Yeah I think you're right.' George said slowly still looking down.

George went to move forward, as soon as he had lifted one foot off of the ground something shot out of the grass. It was a long green tentacle, which had wrapped itself around George's foot and had pulled it back down to the ground. The force with which George's foot was dragged down, coupled with the fact that he hadn't been expecting it meant that he lost his balance and tripped forward. Landing heavily he sprawled out over the ground, the majority of his body was on the stone floor with his legs from the knee down remaining on the grass. The tentacle that had grabbed his foot was now beginning to pull the rest of George back onto the grass.

'George!' Harry cried out as he, and the remaining Weasley brothers, rushed forward to help.

They all clutched onto George, who was wriggling earnestly against the tentacle, and attempted to pull him free. As hard as they tried the tentacle was more then a match for their combined efforts, even with George using his spare leg to kick at it with all the energy he could muster.

'It's no good, it's too strong!' Ron grunted.

'Freduse your wand, Ron and I'll keep pulling.' Harry shouted desperately

'I'm not sure which spell to use!'

'Anything Fred!' George yelled, 'I don't care if you set fire to it just as long as you get it to let me go!'

'Ok I've got an idea.' Fred leg got of George's hand and aimed his wand at the tentacle.

'Oh God I was only kidding about the fire.' George closed his eyes as he saw his twin getting ready to cast a spell.

'Expelliarmus!'

As soon as the spell hit the tentacle it let go of George's leg as though an electric shock had run through it. Harry and Ron pulled as hard as they could until they had dragged George clear of the grass. The tentacle, now devoid of any target, slowly slithered back beneath the grass.

'Thanks guys, I thought I was nearly a goner there.' George gasped.

'No problem.' Wheezed Harry, also out of breath from the effort of pulling George free.

'I told you to keep off the grass.' Ron said collapsing on the floor.

'Well how else are we suppose to cross it? It's too far to jump and there is no way to climb over it, so unless you are suggesting we fly I think we are pretty much stuck.' Said George rubbing his foot that had until recently been attached to a green tentacle.

'Actually flying isn't such a bad idea.' Harry said.

'You know I think you're right, the only thing is I think I've left my broom in my other trousers.' Fred said patting down his pockets.

'No that's not what I mean, when we fought that troll earlier in the year Ron knocked it out when he levitated the club. We've only done small things but it might be possible for one person to levitate someone else over the grass.' Harry smiled expectantly at the twins.

'That's sounds like a crazy idea.' George said looking over at his twin.

'More importantly it sounds like a Fred and George idea.' Fred said grinning.

'Greatso we're going to set fire to each other.' Ron whispered to Harry.

'I'll pretend I didn't hear that.' Fred said indignantly. 'Ok Harry, you want to be first?'

'Er… why me?'

'Because you're the lightest, I've never levitated a person before so it's highly likely that I may drop someone heavier on their head if I don't practice on you first.' George said in what he assumed was a reassuring way.

'That's good to know George, fine lets do it.'

'Oh Harry?'

'Yes Fred?'

'If George drops you in the middle of the grass and that tentacle grabs you…'

'Yeah?'

'Can I have your Nimbus 2000?'

'Fred!' Ron shouted at his brother. 'I'd be first in line to get it wouldn't I Harry?'

'Ron! Fred!' George cried out, 'for God sake I'm not going to let him drop. You trust me don't you Harry?'

'Yeah I reckon you can do it,' admitted Harry.

'And seeing as you would entrust your life to me it's safe to assume you'd trust me to look after your Nimbus should anything happen to you?' George placed his arm around Harry's shoulder as he said this.

'Right that's it, if I do drop onto the grass and you guys can't save me then my broom is going to Hermione,' Harry stated firmly.

'Man… such a waste of a good broom. Well you might as well make sure he gets across ok George, I doubt I could bear watching Hermione toddling slowly along on a Nimbus 2000.' Fred sighed.

'Ok ready Harry, just try to relax once you are up, any wiggling around and you'll be hard to control.'

'Wingardium Leviosa!' George gave his wand a swish and flick as he said this.

Harry's body felt as though it was being gradually lowered into warm water, it started with his feet and slowly moved up. When the feeling had nearly reached his shoulders Harry leaned back, tentatively lifting his feet off the ground. Harry had almost half expected to fall flat on his back, but instead much to his relief he hung in midair.

'Wicked.' Ron said beaming.

'That's the easy part, it's moving him that's the tricky bit.' Said George his face deep in concentration he began to make slow movements with his wand.

Harry felt as though he was floating on water, with each motion of George's wand it seemed as though a gentle wave was pushing him further and further on, and before he knew it he was about half way across the room. Harry could only see the ceiling of the room at the moment because when he had tried to turn his head to have a look George struggled to maintain control and Harry had dropped dangerously close to the grass before George recovered.

'Brilliant.' Ron said as Harry cleared the final patch of grass.

'Sorry Harry, I guess my landing needs some work.' George apologised to Harry who had been unceremoniously dumped onto the stone floor at the other side of the room. 'Ok Ron, you're next.'

'Great, it actually looks like fun.' Ron said grinning.

Harry watched as Ron relaxed his body like he had done. George cast the same spell as before and slowly Ron's body lifted of the ground. Unfortunately Ron's progress didn't appear to be as smooth as Harry's was.

'Oh God careful George!' Ron cried out as he wobbled uncertainly in the air.

'Just stop moving Ron, you're making it hard to control it!' George shouted back, a deep frown appearing on his face as he tried to combat the effect of Ron's twisting.

Rather then allow George to make corrections to his movements Ron squirmed his body left and right in a failed attempt to balance himself, which in turn made his levitation harder to control for George which resulted in Ron struggling more. This vicious circle had only one possible outcome; George lost control of the spell and Ron fell, slap bang in the middle of the grass.

'Ron!' Harry cried out rushing to the edge of the grass. 'Quick George levitate him again!'

'Wingardium Leviosa!' Shouted George frantically waving his wand.

A petrified Ron began to rise off the ground once more. He only made it about a foot of the floor before a long green tentacle erupted from beneath him. It snaked itself around Ron's ankle and pulled him back down. As his feet touched the grass a second tentacle slithered out and wrapped around Ron's other foot, almost making him fall over as he fought to keep his balance.

'Expelliarmus!' Harry's disarming spell shot forth from his wand however, as this was the first time that he had ever tried to do it, it wasn't as effective as Fred's earlier version. The spell hit one of the tentacles, there was a momentary spasm that rippled through it but wasn't strong enough to force it into dropping Ron.

'You just need to concentrate when you cast it!' Fred shouted across from the other side. He and George had now taken to casting disarming spells as well, and with much more accomplishment then Harry.

They succeeded in hitting the tentacles around Ron's legs, which allowed him to break free and try to run over to Harry. Ron managed to make it about two steps before another green arm shot out of the ground and reached out to seize him. Luckily his brothers were prepared for this and were already firing off disarming spells at the new target as it tried to ensnare Ron.

As Ron made his way over to Harry, he was trying hard not to fall. This wasn't easy considering that fresh tentacles were springing up all over the place, add to this Ron's already terrified state and the fact that his lanky frame didn't lend itself to him being naturally surefooted. There was now a sea of green tentacles writhing in the middle of the room, all attempting so capture Ron as he waddled unsurely across the grass. Fred and George was casting spell after spell in an effort to save their little brother, but Harry could see that there were too many for them to handle.

_Just concentrate _thought Harry, his jaw set firm as he took aim with his wand. He focused hard on one of the tentacles; the room around him seemed to melt away, the sound of the twins spell casting faded so that they were a low murmur in his mind, all that remained was the tentacle. Harry could feel the magic grow inside him, it filled every fibre of his being, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as the energy flowed through him. He could sense the incantation form in his mind and could almost see it pressing against his skull trying to force its way to freedom. The intensity increased as the warm glow of the spell flooded Harry's body, the words formed on his tongue and as he spoke them he could feel the power being channelled through his hand to his wand.

'Expelliarmus!'

The magic coursed through Harry's wand and slammed into a tentacle that had enclosed itself around one of Ron's outstretched hands. The effect was instantaneous; the tentacle released Ron as it violently shook, allowing him to use it to claw at his other hand that had also become trapped. With Harry now also casting disarming spells, along side the twins, Ron's progression across the grass became much easier although it still took him a lot of effort and energy to cross the remaining distance. Exhausted he collapsed onto the stone floor in front of Harry, fighting to catch his breath Ron beckoned Harry forward and whispered in his ear.

'What did he say Harry?' George queried in a concerned voice.

Harry looked over at the twins and smiled. 'He said to call you a git.'

'Ahh so no harm done then, glad to see he still has his winning personality,' Fred jokedturning to his twin he clapped his hands together and rubbed them, 'me next and don't worry I don't intend to move an inch, I don't think I want to experience that,' Fred thumbed over his shoulder at the now empty and eerily still grass.

Fred's journey over to the other side pretty much went identical to Harry's, except for his cries of 'see how high you can get me to go,' and 'try and make me do a loop.' Similarly Georges progression over the grass went equally well although as Fred was in charge of the levitation there were cries of, 'for the love of God stop it, I can practically touch the ceiling,' and 'if you do that once more I swear I'm going to be sick.'

Soon all of them were across, safely on the other side of the room, Fred was busy congratulating Ron on his tangle with the tentacles, whilst Harry checked to see if George had stopped feeling dizzy. They rested for a few minutes to gather their collective breath and to calm themselves down from the traumatic experience of nearly losing Ron to some vegetation.

'I really thought I was a goner there,' Ron gasped his voice still shaking, beads of sweat were dripping down his face which he wiped away with the back of his hand.

'No chance Ron not with George and I here, I'm proud to say that we've never lost a sibling yet,' Fred reassured his younger brother.

'Yeah, despite our best efforts Percy still keeps popping up,' chuckled George, 'by the way Harry, nice going with that Disarming spell.'

'Damn right,' Fred agreed, 'getting it right on only your second attempt, very impressive.'

'Oh… I probably got lucky I guess,' said Harry modestly.

'That was more then luck Harry,' Fred pointed out, 'you certainly have a lot of natural talent, you no doubt have been watching me and George closely.' He continued puffing out his chest.

'He can't have been watching that closely, or the grass would be burnt to a crisp,' Ron laughed.

'You guys just aren't going to let it go are you?' Fred implored.

'Of course we will, but only when someone does something more stupid,' George grinned, he raised a hand and pointed to the door in front of them, 'now Sir Fred if you would kindly lead the way.'


	6. Pit stop

Fred led the way through the door, as they entered the torches on the wall sprang into life illuminating the room before them.

'Look, not everything that catches on fire is down to me,' Fred sighed as the other three turned to him smiling expectantly.

'I know Fred, but it saves time if we play the odds,' George teased his twin as he looked around the room, 'well that's interesting.'

The 'interesting' thing in question was a large deep pit that ran the width of the room. On the right hand side of the trench running along the wall were a series of small holes, about the size of Harry's fist, evenly spaced out at various heights. There were no small holes on the left hand side but in the centre of the wall was an etching of a huge stone circle that touched the floor of the pit.

'Well I would say that it doesn't look too dangerous, but that's also what I said about that grass,' Ron's voice echoed around the room as the foursome edged forward to get a better look.

'Yeah,' agreed Harry looking warily at the small holes on the right, 'anything could come out of those holes.'

'I know I don't like the look of them either,' Fred concluded, 'what do you reckon? Shall we do the same as the last room and levitate one and other over?'

'I guess it's better to be safe then sorry,' George said decisively, 'even if it does go against the Fred and George Code of Practice.'

'You guys have a Code?' Harry asked grinning.

'Yep, basically we look at every situation…' George said turning to Harry.

'…and then we ask ourselves; What would Percy do?' Fred chimed in.

'Then we make sure to do the opposite.' The twins chuckled in unison.

'I'll try to remember that Code,' Harry nodded sagely basking in the wisdom of the twins, 'so shall I go first again?'

'That's the spirit Harry,' George made the other two back away so that he had a bit of room, he pointed his wand at Harry. 'Wingardium Leviosa!'

Harry waited for the warm water feeling to flood his body as the spell took hold, however this time nothing happened. Harry looked across to George to see if there was any reason why he wasn't currently wafting his way over the pit, but George was just as confused as to why it didn't work.

'Try again,' suggested Harry.

George gave a shrug of his shoulders and tried once more to levitate Harry. Again the spell had no effect, Harry just remained in place; standing knees bend with his hands held out expectantly.

'Er…are you sure you are doing it right?' Ron asked cautiously out of the corner of his mouth as he continued to look at Harry, half expecting the spell to suddenly start working.

'No Ron, between this room and the last one I have somehow forgotten how to cast the spell,' George responded sarcastically, 'it has to be something to do with the room.'

'Yeah,' Fred agreed nodding his head, 'like in that one with the swinging blades. And if anyone even thinks about cracking a joke about that they won't need to worry about how they are getting across, cos I'll throw them over.' This comment was directed firmly at Ron whose mouth was already half open preparing to tease his older brother.

'But in that room we could still cast spells,' George pointed out, then looked at his twin and smiled, 'granted they didn't have the desired effect did they Sir Fred?'

'You only said that because you know I wouldn't be able to throw you that far, anyway,' Fred said turning to the problem at hand, 'maybe this room is set up so it wont let us cast any spells?'

'Well why don't we try out a different spell just to see if it is possible?' Ron asked which he immediately regretted doing, as George gave him the kind of hunted look every antelope experiences shortly before being chased hell for leather over the Serengeti by a lion.

'Now that's a good idea,' George smiled, as he said this he slowly raised his wand and pointed it at Ron,'trust me Ron, this wont hurt a bit, in fact you might even find it funny.'

'George, don't you dare,' warned Ron reproachfully, 'I mean it! George! No!'

'Rictusempra.'

Ron threw his hands up to his face in an attempt to shield himself from the effects of the spell. There was a moment of pause as he waited for the spell to take whatever horrible effect it was designed for. Harry held his breath as he too watched with morbid fascination. A few seconds ticked slowly passed. Nothing happened. A couple more seconds went by. Still nothing. Harry exhaled loudly as his best friend gradually peaked his eyes out from behind his hands. Ron quickly moved his hands around his face, then his head, and finally his body, checking to see if anything was missing or if anything extra had been added. After he was completely sure that nothing about him had been changed he looked up at George, who was currently looking at the end of his wand with a frown, and pointed at him with an accusing finger.

'You git!' He shouted at George who had taken to shaking his wand as he held it up to his ear intently trying to listen for anything wrong, 'what the hell were you trying to do to me?'

'Relax Ron,' George soothed, 'it was just a tickling charm you know we wouldn't do anything that would harm you.'

'Er… what about the time you nearly blew me up when you were messing around with those potions?' reminded Ron ignoring George's attempt to calm him down.

'Well we would never intentionally do anything that would harm you,' Fred corrected.

'What about those Acid Drops you gave me that burnt a hole through my tongue?'

'Ok, we would never intentionally do anything that would harm you that wasn't funny,' stated George.

'So now what?' Harry asked hastily changing the subject before Ron could fire off a retort.

'It doesn't seem possible to cast any spells in this room,' Fred pointed out.

'Lucky for me, otherwise I'd have two heads by now,' grumbled Ron.

'I guess this means we'll have to rely solely on our quick wits…' said George.

'…keen sense of logic…' continued Fred.

'…and our outstanding ingenuity,' they finished together.

'Oh God, we're dead,' Ron gasped theatrically.

'Your astounding level of confidence in us is very reassuring,' said Fred before turning to examine the pit, 'so how do we get across?'

'What about those metal rails?' Harry pointed to the side of the pit, 'Could we use them somehow?'

Along each side of the trench at the very top of the opening were long thin strips of metal about the width of a thumb and about the same again deep. There didn't seem to be any other purpose for the rails other then purely for decoration, Harry couldn't help think that some steps would have looked nicer instead.

'I doubt it,' George shook his head, 'they aren't wide enough to balance on.'

'I suppose we could climb out the other end,' Harry pondered, 'I mean if you two stood on each others shoulders then Ron and I could easily climb up you and reach the edge to pull us up.'

'But what about Fred and George?' Ron asked.

'Well once we are up we can lean over the edge and pull one of them up.' Harry responded.

'We wont be able to do that for the last person though, I doubt we could lean down that far.' Fred pointed out.

'How about we tie our tops together to form a makeshift rope? If someone leans down as well then I think it might reach.' Harry said thinking hard.

'Seriously Harry, we are going to have to work out your family tree, because I'm starting to think there is a good chance we are related,' Fred said thoughtfully.

'Ok might as well kick this plan into action,' George lent down, sat on the edge of the trench and pushed himself off landing hard on the stone floor below.

As soon as his feet had touched the ground there was a loud clunking sound coming from within the wall on the right hand side. The four boys looked over at the wall and before anyone could say anything water started rushing out of the series of small holes and onto the floor.

'Well I think we've found the nasty surprise in this room,' George shouted up to them over the sound of the rushing water.

'Actually this might do us a favour,' Fred jumped down next to his twin splashing him as he did, the water quickly starting to fill the pit.

'How can drowning be seen as a favour?' Ron queried as he too dropped down with his brothers. He stumbled a bit in the water, which was now already reaching his ankles, and George grabbed hold of him to stop him from falling over.

'Rather then bothering with climbing all over each other,' Fred explained, 'we just wait for this thing to fill up, then we float up with the water and we can easily climb out.'

Harry was the last to jump in, he had expected to water to be very cold but much to his surprise it was actually pleasantly warm. He waded into the centre of the pit where the others had congregated waiting for the level to rise so they could make good on their escape.

The water had reached their knees now and showed no signed of slowing down or stopping. It was then they heard a faint clanking sound coming from all around them.

'What was that?' Harry wondered out loud matching the thoughts of the other three. They all strained their hearing to see if they could work out what the noise was.

'There it is again,' George said looking around.

'Er… I think we have a problem,' Ron said in a slow cautious voice.

'You mean Percy? Yeah I know, I think he's managed to get worse since being made a prefect,' Fred shook his head.

'No Fred,' scolded his younger sibling, 'look at the metal rails.'

Like the twins, Harry examined in metal rails sticking out of wall. At first he wasn't quite sure what he was suppose to be looking for, then it struck him; the rails were moving. Sure enough as he watched he could see that they were slowly sliding out over the pit, as they eased their way further out Harry noticed that they weren't actually rails, they were something much worse and he wasn't the only one to spot it.

'Ah damn! We have to move,' Fred shouted to the others and waded over to the far side, 'now!'

'What's wrong?' asked Ron clearly bemused.

'Those things aren't rails Ron,' Harry explained.

'It's a giant metal grate, and it's closing in on us,' George warned splashing over to his twin.

'But if it closes and the water keeps rising…we'll drown!' Ron finally realised what the others already knew, 'crap, lets get out of here!'

Ron, the water up to his waist, bounded over to the other three who were already working together to escape. Fred stood at the bottom of the wall with his hands pressed against it, then Harry cupped his hands together and George stepped on them to help propel himself up onto his twin's shoulders. George matched his brother's position by also placing his hands on the wall for support. When the twins were happy that they were stable and were not in any danger of toppling over, George motioned for Ron to climb up too. Again Harry used his hands this time to help Ron onto Fred's back who was slowly turning an interesting shade of red due to the effort of supporting both of his brothers weight. Ron climbed up Fred, scrambled over George, and pulled himself over the top of the trench to safety.

Harry watched as Ron poked his head back over the edge of the wall and beckoned him to come up. Although the water had now reached his chest this was the least of their problems, the grates were now almost halfway to closing over the pit, still continuing on their unceasing journey.

Pushing hard against the floor Harry pulled himself up onto Fred's shoulders, who rocked a bit as he adjusted to the addition of Harry's weight. Harry proceeded to climb up George as well before grabbing hold of Ron's hands and being helped over the top. Both Harry and Ron quickly returned to the edge to help George.

'Quick Fred, try and push George up with your hands and I'll try and grab him from this end,' Harry shouted urgently, 'Ron hold onto my legs so I can lean over.'

Harry lay down on the cold stone with the top half of his body leaning down over the edge of the pit, as Ron practically sat on his legs so he wouldn't slip. Fred moved his hands from the wall and placed each one under George's feet and pushed steadily while George reached up with his hands. Fred had to stand as tall as he could to avoid taking in a mouthful of the warm water, which had filled up to an alarming level. As Harry reached down to grasp George's outstretched hands he could see out of the corner of his eye that the grates were very close now, they would have to work quickly to get Fred out before he became trapped.

Harry wrapped his hands around George's wrists and heaved as hard as he could, his arms burned with the effort of pulling up his much heavier friend. He lifted enough so that George could grab onto the edge of the pit himself. Harry pushed himself up onto his knees and both he and Ron moved forward to catch hold of George's arms. The two of them exerted a huge amount of energy to haul George up and out of the pit, as he cleared the edge the three of them collapsed into an exhausted pile on the stone floor.

Harry's body ached all over, there was nothing more that he wanted to do at the present moment then to have a few moments to rest and catch his breath, but they had to still save Fred. Harry used his elbows to lever himself up, Ron and George were also in the process of doing the same thing.

CLANG!

The sound echoed loudly around the room, bouncing off the walls, drowning out the noise of the water. It was the unmistakable clatter of metal colliding with metal. Harry forced himself up, his heart pounding fast, hoping that he was wrong. He wasn't. The grates had closed. Fred was trapped.

'But…but we had more time,' Ron stammered, 'I don't understand.'

'They suddenly sped up,' Fred explained looking up at them as he treaded water within the pit, 'there must be some kind of mechanism that makes the grates move faster and faster. It literally just slammed together.'

'Here give me a hand,' George instructed as he lent down, grabbing hold of one side of the grate he tried to pull it open once again.

Harry and Ron positioned themselves next to George and seized hold of the grate and pulled with all their might. Harry dug his heels against the cold surface of the stone floor, and wrenched the grate as hard as he could. He could hear both Ron and George dragging on the metal grunting hard with the effort. The grate moved, very slightly but the amount of energy they used to even achieve this couldn't be maintained. It slammed shut once more and the three of the collapsed onto the floor. George struggled to get back to his feet but somehow managed it before once again hooking his hands around the grate and heaving with all his might.

'George,' Fred said quietly, 'I don't think that's going to work.'

'It'll… bloody… work!' George grimaced through gritted teeth.

'It won**'**t,' Fred stated firmly, 'it took three of you pulling together as hard as you could to even get it to move a small amount, there is no way you'll be able to open it enough for me to get out.'

'Then we'll go for help,' said George desperately, 'Dumbledore will get you out in a minute.'

'There won**'**t be enough time George. Look at how much this thing has already filled up,' Fred's voice was surprisingly calm given the situation.

'So what are you saying?' George shouted in frustration, 'You want me to just let you die?'

'You think I want to die?' Fred fired back, 'It's simple, I cant get out, we can't open the grate, and we can't stop the water. That doesn't really add up to high likelihood of survival.'

'We're not going to just stand here while you slowly drown!'

'Well if you want you can always sit down,' Fred joked breaking into a slight smile.

'That's not funny,' came George's pained response.

'I know,' Fred kicked up his legs so that he was floating spread out over the water and could see everyone easier, 'look, I don't know how much time I have so I better say this quickly. Ron?'

Ron looked down at his older brother unable to speak, tears were streaming down the sides of his cheeks and his eyes were already bloodshot.

'I know that everything you have probably belonged to one of us at some point, and you're more then likely sick of getting hand-me-downs but I want you to have my Cleansweep,' said Fred gently, 'you ain't too bad for a little brother.'

'No,' Ron replied his voice trembling, 'you're going to need your broom next year, how else are you going to play for Gryffindor?'

'Ron, George and I have got ourselves into a lot of bad spots and we have always managed to get ourselves out again,' Fred said softly, 'but it's never been anything like this. Take good care of the Cleansweep, it likes to drag to the left a bit so you'll have to learn to compensate.'

Ron's legs gave way and he fell to the ground, as he crouched on the floor he descended into a fit of sobbing.

'Harry, I know I haven't known you that long but I think that you are definitely going to become a good lifelong friend of the family,' Fred said, 'I don't have much in the way of things to give you but I know that you've started collecting Chocolate Frog Cards. My collection isn't nearly as good as Ron's but it'll help you out anyway.'

'Thanks Fred,' the words choked in Harry's throat. Although his parents had died when he was a baby he couldn't remember the actual event, this was the first time that he had to confront the death of someone he cared about. His eyes stung from the tears now streaking down his face, his heart felt as though a cold hand had reached around it and was slowly squeezing it. He couldn't think of anything else to say, his half mumbled thanks didn't feel enough but the right words just wouldn't form themselves on his lips. Fred then looked to George who, rather then meet his eyes turned his face away.

'George? Fred whispered as silence ran throughout the room, occasionally broken by Ron or Harry's sobbing.

'Whatever you're going to say Fred, just don't,' George said firmly his face still turned away from his brother.

'Look I know I joke around a bit…well a lot,' Fred corrected himself, and I've probably don't get around to telling you this enough but…'

'No Fred,' George cut in, 'I mean you don't need to say anything cos the water's stopped.' George turned back to his twin and despite the tears was smiling a broad grin.

'What?' asked a stunned Ron sniffing hard.

Harry looked over to the small holes in the wall and sure enough there was no longer any water gushing out, just a slight trickle running into the pit. As relief flooded Harry's body, George grabbed hold of him with one arm and started jumping up and down cheering. Ron, who had been captured by George's other arm, was also laughing with relief while below them in the pit Fred was splashing water up at them as he floated.

'Hey Fred?' asked Ron when he finally managed to get free from George's grip.

'What's up bruv?'

'Do I still get your Cleansweep?'

'I don't think I need to dignify that with an answer,' Fred replied 'so how the hell am I suppose to get out of here? Not that I don't mind the odd swim.'

'Hmmm not actually sure about that,' responded George who despite having stopped jumping around still had Harry's head locked in his arm, 'I guess we'll have to leave you here while we go and get some help, do you think you can hang on ok?'

'Well I was planning on going for a nice leisurely walk but I'll guess I'll just have to settle for splashing around here for a bit,' To emphasize this Fred kicked his legs out and spun himself around a couple of times, 'just don't be too long though, I don't fancy trying to sleep like this.'

'No problem Fred. Now no wandering off, just try and remain in one place so it's easier to find you.' George warned as he gave his brother a thumbs-up before turning around and making for the exit.

'Don't worry we'll get out as quickly as we can and get help. Just hang in there,' Harry added as he waved bye to Fred and went to follow George.

'Maybe I can borrow the Cleansweep sometimes?' Ron queried, chancing his arm one last time, 'you know as a reward for hel…. FRED!'

George and Harry whipped around at the sound of Ron's anguished cry and ran to the edge of the pit. The etching of the huge stone circle in the pit had suddenly and without warning collapsed in on itself, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. The water from the pit immediately flowed quickly into the opening. Harry reached the edge of the pit but all he could see Fred frantically trying to swim against the current, however the pull was too strong and he was dragged backwards through the gap arms flailing desperately. As quickly as it had opened the stone circle closed with a loud slam, all that was left behind was a few puddles of water in the now empty pit.

'FRED! FRED!' The remaining three's shouted echoed loudly around the room, but there was no reply. Fred was gone.


	7. What goes up

'FRED? FRED?' Harry's throat had become hoarsefrom shouting, but as yet they had still heard no response to any of their calls. His heart was beating fast as though it was trying to bounce its way out of his chest, Harry looked over at his best friend. Ron was slumped against the wall, he was very pale and had an expression of pure disorientation on his face, every now and then he would shake his head as if he was trying to wake himself up from a bad dream.

In contrast George had a much different look about him. Rather then crying or shouting, or even the stunned silence that Ron was experiencing, George was standing above the pit and staring down at the stone circle with a cool look in his eye

Harry didn't know what to say to the other twoHe opened his mouth several timesto say something, anything, but the words just wouldn't come. They remained in silence for a few minutes, George was the first to speak, and his voice was so quiet Harry had to ask him to repeat it.

'I said, we should get going,' George turned around his face was completely devoid of emotion, nodding to himself as he said it.

'But what about Fred?' Ron blurted out, 'we have to help him.'

'And how are we going to do that?' said George evenly, 'we can't open the grates, if we could somehow manage that, we can't open that stone circle.'

'So what? We just give up?' snapped Ron.

'No Ron, we get help,' George sighed, 'we get ourselves out and we get help.'

'He's right Ron,' Harry agreed, 'the best thing we can do is get out and let Dumbledore know what's happened, he'll save Fred in a heartbeatI'm sure of that.'

As soon as Harry mentioned Dumbledore's name Ron seemed to calm downto some extent.

'Yeah, Dumbledore will save Fred like that,' Ron snapped his fingers. It was as if this news had suddenly given him a second wind because he had stood up and was striding purposely towards the door, leaving Harry and George to follow in his wake, 'right let's go.'

Harry moved into the next room behind George and stood next to Ron whose previous energy had somewhat been stalled by the presence of a rather large wall

'How are we suppose to get around that?' asked Ron.

'I don't think we are,' answered Harry who was looking up, 'I think that's the door up there.'

George and Ron followed his gaze and sure enough high above them, stuck in the upper most corner of the room, was the door. Harry looked along the surface of the wall where he saw there were numerous large coloured pegs, about the size of his foot, sticking out of it. George had noticed them too.

'Should we try the levitating again?' asked Ron.

'It'll take too long for all three of us to get over there,' George explained, 'and Fred's counting on us'

'Hmm I guess the only way up is to climb,' he reasoned looking at the other two.

'Seems straight forward enough,' agreed Harry.

'That's what we said about the last room,' Ron responded solemnly.

There were enough pegs spanning along the wall for all three of them to start climbing together. The progress was slow but steady and it wasn't long before they were half way up.

'Did anyone else hear that?' Harry asked.

It started very quietly but Harry could hear a scraping sound, as if two bits of stone were being ground against one and other. This noise slowly grew louder and louder until it became obvious where it was emanating from. All three of them looked down. The stone floor was slowly moving away from the wall, uncovering a gapping abyss below them.

'Well that's just perfect,' announced Ron, 'what happens if we fall now?'

'Were you planning on falling before?' asked George.

'No of course not'

'So it doesn't matter then, does it?' reasoned George.

'I guess not,' agreed Ron, 'but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Oh now what?'

The floor had stopped moving, there now only remained a small ledge along the wall with the door they entered through. If they fell there would be no chance of reaching the ledge, they would most certainly fall into the darkness below. The scraping sound of stone against stone had now ceased and had been replaced by a faint drumming sounding that was gradually getting louder and faster. Harry looked across at George who just shrugged with a confused frown on his face. All three of the boys looked down into the chasm waiting to see what the drumming noise would bring forth. The sound had now increased so much in speed and sound that it was impossible to distinguish between the beats, then as it reach a final flourish the drum-roll stopped.

Harry had been so intently looking into the void that he didn't realise what was happening until it was too late: the coloured peg that he had been resting his left foot on had disappeared. Harry's quick reflexes meant that he managed to grab hold of the pegs in his hand tightly and steady himself without falling, unfortunately Ron's reactions weren't as fast and if it hadn't been for George grabbing hold of his hand he would have certainly lost his balance and fallen into the emptiness below.

'What the hell happened there?' shouted Ron, who was now only holding onto one peg with his right hand as he grabbed tightly onto George's wrist.

'Some of the pegs disappeared,' said George struggling to keep his balance.

'Yeah I think I worked that part out when I nearly fell to my death,'

'I think it was just the blue pegs,' Harry said looking up towards the pegs above him, 'I was about to reach up to one before we heard that noise but now it's gone.'

'Speaking of 'that noise', those drums are back,' George pointed out, 'I think we'd better get moving quickly.'

The three of them started climbing again, trying to scramble up the wall as fast as they could while the drums gradually got faster and louder. As the sound entered into the drum-roll crescendo Harry stopped climbing and braced himself in case one of his pegs disappeared. He checked the pegs in each of his hands; one red, one yellow. He then looked down to try and see what he was standing on; both were green. It was too late to move to different colours, the drums had reached their climax.

Harry grunted loudly as all his weight dropped onto his arms. His cheek grazed against the wall causing pain to rippled through the side of his face but he still managed to hold on, his feet dangling over nothingness.

'You OK Harry?' asked Ron.

'Yeah, I'll be fine,' Harry gruffly answered as he swung his body so he could reach another peg with one of his feet, 'how about you two?'

'We're OK, just lost a hand grip,' explained George, who then swore loudly, 'there's those drums again, lets move.'

As before they began to climb up the face of the wall, although their progress was slowed somewhat by the fact that there were now fewer pegs to grab hold of. Once again the noise of the drums reached their pinnacle and fell silent. Harry could see a yellow peg near to him slide quickly back into the wall.

'Ron!' shouted George as his younger brother slipped from his position.

George reached out a hand and grabbed Ron as he dropped, unfortunately Ron's momentum pulled George off balance and he too fell from the wall. George shot an arm out and grasped hold of a peg. He grimaced in discomfort as Ron's chosen method of stopping his fall involved grabbing hold of one of George's legs and wrapping both arms around it. However this now meant that George couldn't stretch himself enough to climb up, as he required both hands on the peg to carry the combined weight of him and his brother.

'George try and swing Ron over to those pegs on your left,' Harry instructed as he slowly made his way across to help.

George, with the aid of Ron, slowly started to rock back and forth. With each swing Ron would extend out his hand and try to reach the elusive peg. Harry was making his own progress across to help George and was soon just above the next peg to the one he was grasping to.

'Nearly got it there,' Ron said as he just missed, 'one more go should do it George.'

George swung himself hard once again, he face turning red with the strain of the effort. Ron's outstretched hand closed around its target and he let go of his brother's legs. The momentum he had gained allowed him to swing his foot up and wedge it against another peg, which he used to steady himself. Now devoid of his brother's weight George was able to try and pull himself up a bit to reach the next peg. Although relieved that his two friends were safe, Harrycouldn't help think that something was wrong. He inhaled deeply as he realised what it was, he tried to warn George and Ron but it was too late. The drums had already stopped.

'Watch out!' Harry's shouted warning fell on deaf ears as it was smothered by the cries of his two friends.

While Harry had managed to grab on tightly to his pegs, therefore being able to steady his body against the wall as one of the ones in his hands disappeared, neither Ron nor George had braced themselves for the pegs to retract so their reactions were far too slow. The peg George was hanging from slid back into the wall and he swore loudly as he started to fall, frantically trying to catch hold of another peg as he descended.

'GEORGE!' shouted Ron as his brother fell past him into the darkness below.

His hands grips now gone Ron flailed desperately against the wall trying to achieve some sort of balance. Harry could see that his friend was in trouble, he looked desperately around for a way down to Ron but there just weren't enough pegs left to reach him. Harry couldn't get down to Ron who in turn couldn't move from his precarious position, and all the while the drums got louder. They both looked at each other in quiet desperation, anxiously trying to work out anyway for Harry to reach Ron.

Then an idea stuck Harry; it was so obvious he was amazed that he hadn't thought of it sooner; levitation. His hand dashed into he pocket and he pulled out his wand. As he raised his wand to perform the spell, the drums fell silent once more.

'Wingardium Levi…'

The two pegs Harry was standing on glided back into the wall cutting short his incantation. His body dropped quickly. His hand instinctively tightened around the peg holding him in place. Although his reactions were quick they didn't take into account that he would suddenly have to bear his entire weight with just one hand. Pain seared through his shoulder as he dropped down causing him to cry out and loosen his grip. His hand, moist from sweat, slipped from the peg.

Harry desperately tried to grab the peg again but his hand closed around thin air. He fell away from the wall, away from the pegs, away from Ron, who was shouting his name, and into the darkness beyond.

SPLASH

Harry landed heavily in the water flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him. As he struggled to break through the surface of the water something wrapped itself around his outstretched arm and pulled him up. He breathed deeply as his mouth cleared the water and turned to look at what had dragged him up.

'Hiya Harry,' smiled George, 'I thought you'd be dropping in on me.'

'Thanks George,' Harry said as he was helped up out of the water.

'Here, this came down just before you did.'

George handed Harry back his wand who, in all the confusion, hadn't even realised that he had dropped it.

'I guess we just wait for Ron now and then we'll head on,' George said looking back up at the black ceiling.

'How do you know Ron will fall and how come we can't see up into the other room?' Harry asked putting his wand away, 'it didn't feel like I fell that far.'

'It's probably a portal of some sort, can't see through those.' George reasoned, 'as for Ron falling, it's a bit inevitable. I mean if the likes of you and I ended up in here then Ron doesn't stand a chance.'

Sure enough as George predicted, about a minute later they were rewarded with the sight of Ron plummeting through the ceiling and into the murky water. Ron erupted from the water and he spat out a large mouthful of liquid before looking wildly around the room. His panicked look subsided when his eyes rested on the other two.

'Thanks,' Ron spluttered as Harry and George helped him out of the water.

While Ron got his breath back Harry looked around. They were in a large room; there were four exits in the centre of each wall with a few squares of flagstone around each door, these bits of stone were the only solid ground as the remainder of the room was full of water. Looking up Harry saw that there wasn't just one portal exit but several, spread out across the ceiling.

'So which door do we take?' Harry asked his eyes flitting from one exit to another.

'Well I sort of decided on this one,' George jerk his thumb over his shoulder. 'I don't particularly want to go for another swim in that water.'

'Good idea,' Harry agreed as he helped Ron back to his feet.

George opened the door behind him and stepped into the dark room beyond with Harry and Ron in tow. As the closed the door, torches on the wall once again came alive and bathed the new room in light. Either side of them was a low wall, as Harry's gaze moved to look around the rest of the room he was suddenly being propelled towards the wall to his left.

'GET DOWN!' George shouted shoving Harry and Ron to one side before diving the other way.

The flagstone that they had been standing on shattered as something hit it leaving deep dark scorch marks. Harry stared over at George from behind the wall and saw that he had his wand out ready and was glancing tentatively over the top. George looked back at Harry with a worried expression on his face.

'This is really not good,' he said simply.


	8. Duck and Cover

Chapter 8

'What on Earth is it?' Ron shouted to his brother as George ducked back down, narrowly escaping another barrage of what looked like lightning that slammed into the wall.

'It kind of looks familiar,' George replied loudly from his hunkered down position behind his wall, 'I'm sure I read about them somewhere. I can't remember specifics but I'm pretty sure the book said that they were highly dangerous.'

'Highly dangerous!' Ron exclaimed, 'thanks for the warning I doubt we could have worked that one out for ourselves!'

'Hang on,' George frowned, 'most magical creatures have some kind of weakness; we just have to work out what this things is and exploit it. Hey, how did you guys get past that three-headed dog again?'

'We were going to play it some soothing music,' Harry explained as Ron peaked over the wall causing the creature to fire off another bolt of lightning, 'except Quirrel had already done it by the time we had got there.'

'I guess it's worth a try,' George reasoned before jumping up and singing, 'Hogwarts, Hogwarts hoggy hoggy Hogwarts…'

George dropped down quickly on all fours just as a fresh lightning bolt came shooting over the wall, the bolt was followed by what looked like some kind of green sludge that slopped against the brickwork and slowly oozed down.

'Yeah I think we can discount soothing music as a tactic,' George said across to the other two, 'oh and it turns out that that thing has two heads, hence the goo,' he pointed to the green gunk now pooling at the bottom of the wall.

'So now what?' asked Harry wrinkling his nose as the funny odour emanating from the sludge, 'we can't just sit here while it takes pot-shots at us.'

'Lets just return the favour,' George held up his wand, 'these walls seem to be able to protect us, so I say we just fire off some spells at the thing and hopefully one of them will stop it. Ready?'

Harry got his wand out, as Ron did the same, both held onto them tightly as they prepared themselves. All the spells Harry had learnt during the year flicked through his memory as he tried to work out which one, if any, would be able to cause some damage to a creature that could fire lighting bolts out of its mouth.

'NOW!' shouted George leaping up from behind the wall and letting off a spell.

Harry followed suit, bringing his wand up, as he stood upright. The sight of the creature almost made him forget to cast his spell. It was a large beast, probably about the height of Hagrid and almost as wide too. Standing on it's hind legs it look a lot like a bear, if in this instance a bear happened to be covered in large scales, had two heads and a long snake like tail with a nasty looking curled spike on the end. Each head was identical, and had a very serpent-like appearance, except for the fact that each only had one eye in the dead centre and the long horn protruding from the end of snout.

Harry cast the first spell that came into his head. Magic shot out of the end of his wand and closed in on its intended target. George's spell was the first to hit home; it glanced off of the chest of the beast and ended up striking the wall. Ron's attempt was much worse and didn't even come close to hitting the creature, although if it had done it was unlikely to have caused it much trouble seeing as Ron had also cast the first spell that came into his head. The unlocking spell might be useful when dealing with a door, it's not so useful when a two-headed lightning bolt firing beast is concerned.

Harry's spell struck the beast in the dead centre of its body. His triumphant cry was cut short as his spell was rebounded by the scaly armour of the creature and fired straight back at him. His legs seized up as the Leg-Lock Curse took hold and he fell back landing hard on the stone floor.

'You alright?' Ron asked as he performed the counter-curse.

'Yeah, thanks,' Harry replied rubbing his shoulders after he could move his legs properly once again.

'Ok boys, I think I've remembered a bit more about this thing,' George called over, 'those scales on its front give it an immunity to magic so it'll rebounded our spells.'

'Really?' came Ron's retort, 'you don't think you could have remembered that a bit sooner? Like maybe just before we cast a load of spells at it?'

'What I meant to say, before you started getting all high-pitched Ron,' explained George, 'is that as far as I can remember those scales only cover its front. If we can get it to turn around we can fire spells at itsexposed back.'

'Oh well if that's all we have to do,' Ron snorted before raising his voice, 'excuse me Mr Two-Headed Beast, could you please turn around for us?' he had a quick look over the top of the wall then glanced over at his brother, 'you know I don't think it is going to.'

'Anyway,' George said ignoring his younger sibling, 'there area number of these walls dotted around the room that I can use for cover. I'll try to distract it and you two hit it with some spells when it turns its back.'

'Good idea… well actually it isn't, but it's the best one we have,' Harry corrected himself, 'except I think me or Ron should do the distracting and you should try hitting it with spells.'

'Are you crazy?' Ron whispered urgently, 'did you not get a good look at that thing?'

'I'm just saying that we might only get one chance to hit it with a spell,' Harry reassured his friend, 'and of all of us George will know the more powerful ones so he'll have a better chance of stopping that thing.'

'Unless of course there happens to be a locked door on itsback, then it's all yours little brother. Ok I'll cast the spell, you just be careful,' warned George.

Harry waited for George to get prepared and then he slowly edged his head up over the parapet of the wall. As he studied the layout of the room his eyes occasionally flicked up, distracted by the beast. He'd missed what the room looked like previously, as he had been somewhat preoccupied with dodging the lightning and sludge provided by the room's host. There were four doors out of the room, including the one they came in through, within the room dotted around at varying angles were walls similar to the one Harry was hiding behind. In the centre was a large circular pedestal on which the creature stood. As long as Harry kept low and behind the walls he would be safe.

Harry moved, using a slight crab-like waddle, passed Ron and over to the far side of their wall. He could see the next closest wall to him; it was straight in from of him. He would be exposed for a couple of seconds but he knew he was fast enough to make it. With one last nod to George, Harry sprang forward.

Hedived towards the wall and safety. His heart pounding hard in his chest he leaned back against the wall and looked at the stone floor he had just sprinted across, right in the middle was a blob of green slime next to a singed flagstone.

'Well done Harry,' shouted George, 'you just need to get further around the room so he turns around more.'

Harry nodded at the instructions and peaked over the top of the wall to work out his next destination. There was another wall to the far right; it was a further distance then the last one so he was going to be exposed for much longer.

'George, I don't think I'll be quick enough to make it across,' Harry worried.

'No problem Harry,' came the reply, 'I'll make a distraction over here and when it firing at me you can dash across to the other wall.'

'Ok, on the count of three,' Harry waited for George to give him a thumbs up to say he was prepared, 'ready? One… two… three…'

'Hey! Over here you great ugly brute!' George shouted whilst bouncing up and down as he waved his arms wildly.

As beast turned it's attention to George, Harry made his move. In his haste he slipped slightly on the stone floor but recovered quickly, closing the gap to the next wall swiftly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the creature turn one of its heads in his direction and he instinctively went into a dive, rolling roughly behind the wall as green goo erupted from the beast's mouth.

Harry gave a loud sigh of relief as he caught his breath back, it was only then he realised that there was something wrong. Ron was calling out to his older brother but there was no response.

'Ron, what's wrong?' called Harry.

'It's George,' replied Ron desperately, 'when he ducked back down he smacked his head off of the wall and well… knocked himself out.'

'So he's safe?' Harry clarified.

'Yeah, just unconscious… I don't believe it,' Ron's astounded voice echoed around the room, 'I think he's snoring.'

'Ok it looks like you are going to have to be the one the cast the spells,'

'But why me?' asked Ron, 'we both know you are better them then me.'

'Well its either that or you get to be the bait,' explained Harry.

'You know I've always enjoyed the spell casting part of being a wizard,' Ron said hurriedly

'Er… there is one more thing you'll need to do,' Harry said cautiously.

'Yeah?' came Ron's sceptical response.

'It's just that the next wall is a bit far off again,' Harry knew Ron wasn't going to like the next thing he had to say, 'so… you're going to have distract it like George did.'

'Distract it? Like George did?'

'Yeah.'

'This would be the same George who is currently unconscious?'

'To be fair the beast didn't knock him out, the wall did,' Harry said in what he hope was a reassuring voice.

'Fine.' Ron conceded, 'I guess we don't have much choice. On the count of three then, ready?'

'One… two… three,' they counted in unison.

'Hey over here,' cried Ron matching his brother's earlier bouncing and arm waving, 'you smelly two-headed…arrghh!'

Ron's reactions hadn't been as fast as his brother's. The beast had fired a bolt of lightning straight at him and although it struck the top of the wall there was still enough power in the blast to fling Ron back across the room. He landed heavily on the ground and crumpled to the floor.

Harry watched all this in horror before he realised that he had stopped moving. He managed to turn his head in time to see a sea of green liquid bearing down on him. Harry threw his arms up to protect his face and the force of the wave threw him against the wall. His glasses were knockedfrom his face as he collided against the stone and they fell away to the ground. However Harry didn't fall as well because the green sludge had stuck him to the wall. It took him a few seconds to realise what happened, and when he did he tried as hard as he could to free himself, but it was like he had become enveloped in superglue. Only his feet and his face weren't covered in the sticky foul smelling substance, the sides of his head were also covered causing his hearing to be muffled. Harry desperately writhed and wriggled trying to break free from its grasp.

THUD!

Harry looked up, through his blurred vision he could see the outline of the beast, it had jumped off of it's pedestal in the centre of the room and was slowly approaching Harry. As it got closer and closer Harry's attempts to escapes became more frantic. Soon the rotten smell of the creature invaded Harry's nose almost causing him to gag. Harry could feel the goo giving way a bit as he moved his feet back and forth. The beast was standing right in front of him. It stopped. Harry waited…and waited. But the creature just stood there not moving an inch.

Then it very slowly toppled over, and collapsed on the floor. A confused Harry could see that there was a shape standing behind where the beast had been, but without his glasses it was nothing more then a shaky outline.

'Thanks mate,' Harry said gratefully.

'No problem Harry,' said a familiar voice, 'and what do you mean 'mate'? I'm sure we had all agreed that I was to be called Sir Fred.'


	9. A Bridge too Far

"FRED?"

"Of course it's me, who else do you know who looks like me? Actually forget that. Here you go."

Fred's face swam into view as he placed the glasses on Harry's face. His hair was matted to his face, his clothes were soaked and torn slightly on one sleeve, but apart from that he looked fine. Fred grimaced as he eased his hand into the green sludge freeing one of Harry's hands.

"Ugh, you couldn't have gotten stuck to the wall by marshmallow could you?" he complained as he wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell.

"Well I didn't have time to ask it if it did it in any other flavours. Thanks," Harry added as Fred finally pulled him free. He landed heavily on the stone floor next to the body of the beast, "so what did you do to it?"

"A simple sleeping charm," Fred said with a big wide grin on his face.

"So how long do we have until it wears off?"

"Dunno," Fred replied with a frown on his face, "we'd better get a move on," his frown continued as he looked around the room, "where are the other two?"

"Oh they are over there," Harry pointed, "they got knocked out."

"Tsk, George got knocked out by that thing?" Fred scolded shaking his head, " he must be getting slow in his old age."

"Er… actually only Ron got knocked out by it," Harry grinned, "George knocked himself out."

"Brilliant," said Fred, looking as though all his Christmas's had come at once, "well lets revive them quickly them."

"Yeah we'd better get out of here before that thing wakes up," nodded Harry.

"To be honest I meant so I could poke fun at George, but your point is valid too."

They crossed over to the other two who were beginning to stir; Fred helped Ron to his feet as Harry went to George's side.

"Thanks George," Ron said woozily as he steadied himself against his brother and the wall.

"Guess again little bruv," Fred beamed.

"What?" Ron's face contorted into a frown, partly to do with confusion and partly to do with the fact he was still a little shaky on his feet. Slowly a smile spread across his face, "Fred?"

"Well it's Sir Fred if you want to get technical but I'll let it go this time."

Ron wrapped his arms around his brother and looked as though he was about to squeeze the life out of him.

"Er…Ron?" Fred wheezed, "I'd like to breathe now if that's ok."

"Oh sorry," Ron said letting go, and then quickly punched his brother in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" Fred winced rubbing his arm

"That was for making us worry about you," explained Ron.

Harry put George's arm over his shoulder and helped leaver him onto his feet. There was a large bump on his head where he had hit the wall.

"Thanks Harry," George said groggily, and then looking across at his twin, he began dusting his clothes off, "God I look a right state."

"Er… George," interrupted Harry, "that's not a mirror, that's Fred."

"Fred?" responded George trying to smooth down his hair, "FRED!"

All thoughts of the painful ache coursing through George's head were forgotten as he grabbed hold of his twin and had started to jump up and down with him. Harry watched the twins bouncing away together, he caught Ron's eye and could see a huge smile of relief on his friends face, which was soon replaced by a look of uncomfortable panic as his brothers had now enveloped him and, despite his protests of being too dizzy, were whipping him around with them in a circle.

"Where the hell have you been?" George asked his twin when he had calmed down enough to think, as Ron steadied himself against the wall looking as though he was about to be sick.

"Well after I went for a nice ride down some tunnels I got dumped into a room full of water which had four doors leading out of it."

"Hey I think we were in there," Harry pointed out.

"So I went through one of those doors and ended up in a big room where I had to dodge…er… I think they were wasps."

"Great," complained Ron, "we get the Wall of Death and a two headed monster and Fred gets to mess around with bugs."

"They weren't normal wasps Ron, they were gigantic. One of them nearly ripped my arm off," Fred lifted up his sleeve to show them the tear in the cloth.

"Er… guys do you think we should leave this room before that thing wakes up?" asked Harry, nodding his head over to the slumbering beast. A loud snort emanated from the body of the beast as if to emphasise Harry's observation.

Walking slowly through the room, they carefully stepped around the body that was lying prone on the floor. One of the heads groaned softly, causing Ron to jump back and the others to pause in anticipation with their wands at the ready. When it was clear that they weren't about to be attacked the foursome hurried quickly through the far door.

As Harry gratefully closed the door behind him he turned to see that the other three had stopped just ahead of him. They were standing on a large ledge that spread the entire width of the room, looking around Harry could see that there were three other doors that had lead into this room and they were all located on their side of the ledge. On the opposite side of the room there was another identical ledge but with only a single large door with small statutes either side, which were too far away to make out just exactly what they were. Between these two ledges there was a bridge that hung over a dark abyss. Hanging from the ceiling was a huge hourglass with all the sand currently in the bottom half.

Fred wandered over to one of the other doors on their side of the room and gave it an experimental tug; nothing happened. He even tried using the unlocking spell but this didn't have any effect either.

"I guess that's the only way," he said turning back to the others.

"I knew you'd say that," Ron sighed depressingly, plodding over to the edge of the bridge, looking down he frowned, "what's that suppose to mean?"

The other three came over to him to see what he was looking at.

The bridge was made up of a series of large slabs, which were lined up in four columns running the length of walkway. On each row of four slabs there were some markings, with each of the four slabs having a different one, apart from the very first slab which ran the width of the bridge and had the four animal symbols for the Houses of Hogwarts on it.

"That looks like a wizard's hat," Harry said pointing to one of the markings.

"Yeah," agreed George, as he pointed to another one "and that kinda looks like a dragon."

"Oh you're right," said Ron turning his head slightly to the side, "and that one looks like… er… well a leaf."

"Don't be daft Ron," scolded Fred, "that looks nothing like a leaf it looks more like a wand."

"I meant that one," Ron said impatiently motioning to the one he meant.

"Oh, yes well obviously that one looks like a leaf," Fred said recovering quickly.

"So what do you think they mean?" Harry asked George before the other two started bickering.

"Absolutely no idea Harry, but I guess we might as well try and cross. I mean what's…"

"If you say what's the worst that could happen, I will… I will," stammered Ron, "well I don't know what I'll do but it won't be pleasant."

"Er… right," George said, contemplating saying it anyway just to see what Ron could come up with, "ok lets go."

They moved in unison and stepped onto the first slab, as soon as they did the large hourglass that was suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the room swung around and the sand slowly started to filter through from the top to the bottom.

"What do you think happens when the sand runs out?" asked Ron nervously.

"I think it'll mean one of two things little brother," George answered sagely, "either something unexpected and bad will happen or…"

"Or what?" Ron asked desperately.

"Or it'll mean that our eggs have been boiled for the correct amount of time, now as much as I really hope it's the eggs going on what the past rooms were like I think it is pretty safe to say it's probably going to be the first of the two option."

"So either way it's bad," mused Fred, the others turned and gave him a funny look, "oh you see I don't like eggs."

"How come you always have them for breakfast?" inquired George.

"Oh I like fried eggs, I've just never been a fan of boiled ones," explained Fred.

"So how do you feel about poached?"

"To be honest I can take them or leave…"

"Sorry to interrupt," Ron said impatiently, "but we are in room that is quite clearly counting down to something bad, and the last thing we need to know is how Fred likes his eggs."

"You're right Ron, we're sorry," apologised George just as Fred whispered, 'scrambled' to Harry, "so let's start move…hey what's that?"

George pointed up to a silver light that had appeared on the side of one of the walls. It was fizzing brightly and reminded Harry of the sparklers that Dudley use to play with at Halloween, except he doubted this light would be used to chase him around the room threatening to set fire to his hair, at least he hoped it wouldn't.

The light began to move in the air, it left a bright trail in its wake. Slowly as they watched it's progression through the air they saw that it was in fact creating a line of letters, soon it had finished and had stopped expectantly in the air.

"Wenlock?" Ron voice broke the silence, "what the Hell's a Wenlock?"

"No idea," Harry said equally confused.

"It sounds familiar," George pondered, gently rubbing his chin in thought.

"Really?" Fred responded.

"Actually no," George admitted, "but I thought I'd give you guys some glimmer of hope. Look," he continued as they gave him a look of annoyance, "whatever this Wenlock thing is, it's obviously one of those four things."

"So it's either a dragon, a leaf, a wand or a wizard's hat?" Fred said sceptically, "it really doesn't sound like any of those."

"Well maybe those marking just represent certain things?" Harry pointed out, "like the dragon might mean all magical animals."

"Good thinking there Harry," congratulated George, "and the wizard's hat might mean an actual wizard."

"Yeah and the leaf might mean….er… types of tree," Fred hazard a guess.

"Seriously, if you weren't as good looking as me I'd have to question if we were brothers," scolded George.

"I think he might be on the right track," Ron said, he carried on after receiving a bemused look from the other three, "ok maybe not a type of tree, but I mean it could be types of herbs used in magic, or even ingredients in general."

"Nice one bruv," Fred said to his beaming younger brother, "and the last one I guess could just mean spells."

"Well that's great," smiled Harry, which was soon replaced by a frown "so… which one would be a Wenlock?"

"It doesn't really sound like a spell, or a magical animal," Fred said sharing his thoughts.

"Well that leaves a fifty-fifty chance," George pointed out, "I'd go with wizard."

"How did you decide that?" asked Harry.

"I don't think it would sound right saying 'could you pass me the Wenlock, I'm all out,'" explained George.

"I guess that logic is better then anything else we have at the moment," Fred said stepping onto the slab with the wizard's hat. The others held their collective breath. After what seemed an age Fred turned around and smiled, "well are you coming or not?"

The remaining three all piled onto the large stone slab and they waited expectantly. The fizzing light moved back to it's start point and began to spiral once again. The four boys watched and waited for the light to finish it's journey.

"Oh my god," exclaimed Harry, "I know that word, Asphodel, it's an ingredient."

"How do you know that?" Ron asked.

"Remember that first day in Potions, when Snape was his usual pleasant self," explained Harry, "well that was one of the ingredients he mentioned when he was proving how little I knew in front of the class."

"Good memory Harry," Fred said, "so what's it used in?"

"I have no idea," Harry said looking sheepish.

"That's ok," George said, before treading onto the leaf-marked slab, "we never pay attention in Snape's class either."

Once again they waited for the sparkling light to write a new word onto the wall.

"Elphick? Sounds like a disease," said Harry.

"Sadly we don't have that option," George responded, before turning to the other two, "any ideas?"

"Well I had this great idea for making our own Butterbeer," Fred said with a faraway look in his eye, "but as for Elphick I haven't got a clue."

"So far we have had a wizard and an ingredient," Ron spoke slowly, "so I think that this one might be a spell or a creature… but it doesn't really sound like either."

"Lets try one," Fred said daringly before playing a foot onto the slab with the dragon marking on it.

There was a moment's pause in which Fred turned and smiled at the other three. Then his triumphant looked turned to one of panic as the slab crumbled away beneath his foot. Fred flailed his arms desperately has he nearly fell into the hole in the bridge created by the slab disappearing down, if it hadn't been for Harry grabbing one of Fred's arms he probably would have joined the slab careering down into the blackness.

"Thanks," Fred gasped, as the other three pulled him back onto their slab, "at least we know what happens when we guess wrong. I reckon that means it has to be this one." Fred pushed the heel of his foot down cautiously down onto the slab with the wand marking on it, this time he gingerly held his foot there. After a moment this slab also fell away into the darkness.

"Ok," Harry concluded when Fred was safely back on the slab with the rest, "at least if we don't know the answer we can step on them and find out which one is safe."

"Good plan Harry," agreed Ron.

The progress across the room was slow and steady each time they paused as they tried to work out which slab was the safe one. Sometimes they knew the answers, but most of the time they would take it in turns to stretch their feet over onto a slab as the remaining three held on tight in case they needed to pull the volunteer back.

They had made their way almost half way across the ravine, before Ron noticed something was wrong. The other three looked up to where he was pointing, and they too realised the problem. The sand in the hourglass had almost run out.

The foursome waited expectantly as the last few drops of stand felling into the bottom container of the hourglass. They each pulled their wands out, preparing themselves for whatever was about to happen. The silence enveloped the whole room; the only sound was the low rasps of their breathing. Suddenly there was a rumbling sound from the far end of the bridge where they had started out. They watched as the first large slab crumbled into the abyss below. This was quickly followed by the first row of four slabs, each one disappearing from view.

"Ok time for Fred and Georges all purpose back up plan," Fred said urgently.

"Which is?" asked Ron.

"Run," explained George before breaking into a sprint along one of the columns of slabs.

The other three didn't need to be told twice and followed suit. Each of them ran as hard as they could down the column of slabs, luckily when they trod on the wrong ones it took a few moments for it to fall away into the darkness beyond, this meant that as long as they were quick enough they could keep going without falling down with the stone. Harry pushed himself as much as he could, the three Weasley brothers were further ahead then him, their long legs allowing them to move faster then he could. His heart was pounding hard in his chest as his feet slapped against the stone bridge. Harry chanced a look over his shoulder. The collapsing sections were gaining on him. Harry stumbled slightly as the slab underneath his foot gave way. Luckily he managed to regain his footing in time just catching himself as he slipped.

He could see the other side just ahead of him, but he could also hear the crumbling of the stone slabs gaining on him. The three Weasley brothers had made it safely to the opposite ledge and had turned around to shout encouragement to Harry as he closed the final gap.

"Harry! It's right behind you," shouted Ron in a panicked voice.

"JUMP!" Fred and George screamed in unison.

With every ounce of energy that Harry had he flung himself forward as far as he could, clearing the last few slabs of stone as they fell away into the abyss. Fred, George and Ron's shouts of triumph were cut short as Harry, unable to stop himself, barrelled into them. All four of them, carried by Harry's momentum, fell backwards into the door, which swung open as they hit against it. They all landed in a pile on the floor, groaning with pain.

"I've got to admit," said a voice in the room, "you gentlemen certainly know how to make an entrance."

Harry, being on top of the pile, was the first to look around for the voice and could see someone standing just outside the light of the torches on the wall. The mysterious figure stepped forward revealing himself. Harry broke into a grin as relief flooded his body.

"Oh, hi Headmaster," said George from the bottom of the heap.


	10. Testing Times

Dumbledore waited patiently as the four young Gryffindors pulled themselves up from the heap. They stood shoulder to shoulder in a line, the two twins trying to convey an aura of innocence about them which, mainly due to the soaked, ripped clothes of Fred and the large bump on George's head, failed miserably.

Harry looked quickly around the room. It was rather small and practically bare. There was only one other door, which was behind Dumbledore, and a large mirror hung next to it.

"Well?" Dumbledore asked expectantly, his eyes twinkling beneath his glasses.

"Ahh well what happened…" Ron started but his words faltered as the headmaster's gaze fell on him.

"… was that I was sleep walking," Fred said stepping forward and picking up from his younger brother.

"I never knew you suffered from that particular aliment," Dumbledore said in a deeply concerned voice.

"Years I've had it Sir, years," Fred nodded enthusiastically, "now I'm not one to complain, so I never mentioned it before."

"That's very noble of you," responded Dumbledore smiling kindly at Fred, "although I'm not sure if my sentiments are mirrored by your associates."

Fred frowned slightly before looking over at the other three, Harry had taken to intently examining the ground, Ron's hand was massaging the bridge of his nose as he gently shook his head, and only George was looking directly at him, hands on hips with a disappointed look on his face.

"Sleepwalking?" George scolded, "seriously is that the best you could come up with?"

"Well I didn't hear anyone else coming up with any suggestions," Fred explained.

"Actually I was just about to say that Peeves had shown us a shortcut up to the Fat Lady and we had got lost and ended up here," said George.

"Oh, that's a much better excuse then sleepwalking," Fred looked over at Dumbledore, "is it too late to change our story?"

"Sadly it is Mr Weasley," Dumbledore said softly, "now I believe Professor McGonagall has spoken to you about sneaking around the school at night, did she not?"

"Yes Headmaster," answered Fred.

"And do you recall just exactly what she said?" Dumbledore's gaze swept from one twin to the other.

"That if we were caught outside of the Gryffindor Dormitories once more this year when we weren't suppose to be she'd be cancelling all our Hogsmeade weekends for the rest of our time at school," said George glumly.

Dumbledore slowly paced along the line of boy considering his next course of action. Each of the foursome held their breath, as they waited fro the Headmaster to decide their fate. Although from the sounds of it Fred and George were going to get the harder punishment Harry was sure that he and Ron wouldn't be getting away completely unscathed.

Harry knew that Dumbledore would always worry most about the safety of his students, so wandering around the bowels of the castle late at night was certainly not the smartest way for them to spend their time. Add to that the fact that they were with Fred and George, who were the human equivalent of lightning rods in a storm when it came to attracting trouble, and you had a recipe for more peril and danger then even the Forbidden Forest could offer.

Dumbledore paused and turned to them with a solemn look etched on his face. Silence filled the room as the seconds slowly ticked by. It seemed to go on for a lifetime and it probably would have continued if a rather red faced Ron hadn't started gasping for air after holding his breath for too long.

"Well, I suppose that means you had better not get caught on your way back to beds doesn't it?"

All four boys snapped their heads up from the ground and stared at Dumbledore, Harry cast a sideways glance over to Ron who looked both confused and relieved.

"So we aren't in trouble?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Trouble?" frowned Dumbledore, "I very much doubt if I could possibly punish you for doing extra school work?"

"Er… I'm sorry what?" said Fred

"Ahh… you see the NEWT exams were particularly tough this year so myself and a few of the other teachers devised a kind of assault course for the Seventh Years to try out," explained the Headmaster smiling at the four of them.

"Er…yeah…" Fred replied with the same sense of confusion that people experience when they accidentally turn two pages at once whilst reading, "I'm sorry what?"

"So let me get this straight," started Ron, his jaw firmly set, "we took part in a test?"

"That's right, and you did remarkably well considering your ages," Dumbledore smiled down at them, "we shall be no doubt expecting great things from all of you in the future."

"So… what happens now?" asked Harry cautiously.

"Ah… well technically all four of you should be punished for wandering around school at such a late hour," the Headmaster said severely before breaking once again into a smile, "however on the other hand since you know doubt wanted to put in some extra scholastic effort?"

"What?" said a startled Ron, "we didn't mean to…ouch."

"Sorry Ron," apologised George, "I seem to inadvertently trodden on your foot. No doubt what you were about to say was; that we didn't mean to wake anybody up with our late night school work."

"Oh yes," stammered Ron finally catching on, "that's what I was definitely going to say."

"Now as you know," continued George, "Fred and I are very studious individuals… what was that Ron?"

"Sorry George, just a slight cough I have picked up, must have been from the water."

"Right," said George casting a sceptical look at his younger brother, "as I was saying. Fred and I are very studious individuals, and we felt we should impart some of our hard earned knowledge onto our younger brother and his best friend."

"…and as you know it's very hard to keep a secret around here," continued Fred, "and we overheard some seventh years talking about this place where we could give our skills a practical work out…"

"…yes. So we came down here hoping to get come extra work done," George interjected as the flow of the lie took hold, "and we decided to bring along Harry and Ron for some additional lessons that they might not have experienced otherwise."

"I thought it might have been something like that," said Dumbledore nodding, "but what was that you were saying a moment ago about 'sleepwalking'?"

"Oh that?" said Fred waving a hand dismissively, "I was just being modest about our after hour study group, I didn't want to imply that we weren't being taught everything we should be during our regular lessons."

"Ahh… how very considerate of you, but I'm glad I found out as surely this deserves some kind of announcement to the school," Dumbledore said, his eyes sparkling brightly, "nothing too over the top, just a brief acknowledgement of your willingness to put in a little extra work outside of normal hours."

"Now Headmaster," Fred said quickly, "don't you think you are jumping the wand blast a bit there?"

"Yeah," agreed George, "I mean Fred and I have reputations to uphold."

"That's right," continued Fred, "people here have a certain expectation of us. I mean how would it look if George and I start getting announcements saying how well behaved and goody-two shoes we are?"

"Well it would probably make people think you are following in your brother Percy's footsteps," concluded Dumbledore.

"My point exactly Headmaster," said George gravely, "and no one wants that."

"I think it would be best for all concerned," Fred continued, "if we keep all of this between ourselves."

"Well if you think it's for the best," Dumbledore said kindly, "but I think we should tidy you up a bit first George. It looks like quite a bump has formed on your forehead."

"Oh this?" said George pointing to his head, "this is nothing you should see what happened to the thing that gave it to me."

"I very much doubt that the wall suffered any permanent damage," said Dumbledore as he waved his wand over George's bump, "there that's better, not as good as Madam Pomfrey I'm sure but I don't think she would appreciate being woken at this time of the night."

"How did you know that?" asked a surprised George.

"It wouldn't be a very good way of testing students if we didn't have a way of keeping an eye on you now would it?" Dumbledore turned around and stepped over to the large mirror hung on the wall, "this mirror here allows the observer, in this case me, to watch what is going on in all of the test rooms, in case a student got into too much trouble and needed assistance."

"So you were watching us the whole time?" asked Fred.

"Not the whole time," admitted Dumbledore, "when you opened the portrait door, an Intruder Alarm set off alerting me. I set one up as I didn't want any student to go through the test unsupervised. Luckily it didn't take me long to get here, so I didn't miss much."

"Er… Sir?" asked Ron unsteadily, "how come when you knew we were down there you didn't just come and get us out?"

"Oh I have great faith in all my students," replied Dumbledore, "I was certain after your adventures with Professor Quirrell that you and Harry were more then equipped to deal with the situation, and your brothers here have always shown that they are more then capable with getting themselves out of whatever trouble they have fallen into. Much to the displeasure of Mr Filch I am sure. Now," he clapped his hands together and rubbed them, "I'm sure you are all looking forward to a nice long sleep, please don't let me detain you any further. If you go through that door it'll lead you up to a passage way near to the clock tower, just tap the suit of armour on the shoulder three times with your wand and it'll move aside for you."

George led the way, followed by Harry then Ron with Fred bringing up the rear. Just as he was about to leave the room Fred turned around.

"Headmaster, George and I accidentally left some bags…" he stopped as Dumbledore had raised a hand.

"Don't worry, you bags have been safely returned to your rooms," said the Headmaster reassuringly, "they have been completely untouched aside from being moved. I doubt even Merlin himself would be brave enough to look inside one of your bags without being invited to do so."

"Oh ok, thanks Headmaster," Fred waved as he turned to leave, "goodnight."

"Goodnight, Sir Fred," came the reply.

"Look, I'm just saying it wasn't my fault I set it on fire."

The four of them piled through the portal door into the Gryffindor common room, Fred still complaining.

"Ok, ok… I think I'd admit that you didn't do the single dumbest thing tonight," said Ron.

"Yes, that honour goes to our brother George here," Fred wrapped his arm over his twin's shoulder, "I'm sure that's the last time that wall messes with anyone else, it'll be too afraid it'll get another head butt."

Their laughter slowly petered out as they saw Hermione sat in an armchair in front on the fire, arms folded with a withering look upon her face.

"Er… you know George," said Fred quickly, "I think I'm gonna go and check our bags so see if everything is there."

"Good idea Fred, I'll help" agreed his twin before turning to the other two, "two-headed monsters, nearly drowning and swinging blades are one thing, but as for an angry woman, I'm not touching that with a ten foot broomstick."

As the twins swiftly departed the common room their voices filtered back down.

"Would would you use a ten foot broomstick for George?"

"I guess you could use it to fly a load of people at one time. A bit like a flying bus or something."

"Hmm… we should look into building one. Might be some money in it…"

Their voices became quieter and quieter until they were just a distant mumble and the only sound that could be heard was the soft crackle of the burning fire.

"Well?" asked Hermione.

"Well what?" replied Ron trying to sound innocent.

"Where have you been?" she demanded, "I had forgotten one of my books so I came back down to see you," she pointed at Harry accusingly, "disappearing through the portrait. I've been absolutely worried sick."

"Ahh Hermione I didn't know you cared so much about us," Ron said grinning.

"Actually I was more worried you were going to do something that ended up losing us House Points."

"Just relax Hermione," said Harry settling down into one of the armchairs as Ron sprawled across another, "everything was fine. You see what happened was this…"


End file.
